Botanical classification/cultivar designation: Nephrolepis exaltata cultivar Tiger Fern.
The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Nephrolepis Fern plant, botanically known as Nephrolepis exaltata, and hereinafter referred to by the name xe2x80x98Tiger Fernxe2x80x99.
The new Nephrolepis fern was discovered by the Inventor in a controlled environment in Bogor, Indonesia in the spring of 2000, as a naturally-occurring whole plant mutation of an unnamed selection of Nephrolepis exaltata, not patented. The new Nephrolepis Fern was selected by the Inventor on the basis of its unique pinnae variegation.
Since 2000, asexual reproduction by divisions of the new cultivar in a controlled environment in Bogor, Indonesia, has shown that the unique features of this new Nephrolepis Fern are stable and retained through more than 30 successive generations of asexual reproduction.
The following traits have been repeatedly observed and are determined to be the unique characteristics of xe2x80x98Tiger Fernxe2x80x99. These characteristics in combination distinguish xe2x80x98Tiger Fernxe2x80x99 as a new and distinct cultivar of Nephrolepis Fern:
1. Upright and outwardly arching plant habit.
2. Vigorous growth habit.
3. Durable rachis; plants resist breakage during shipping.
4. Green and yellow green variegated pinnae.
5. Closely-spaced pinnae; densely foliated.
The new Nephrolepis Fern is most similar to the parent, the unnamed selection of Nephrolepis exaltata. However in side-by-side comparisons conducted in Bogor, Indonesia and Miami, Fla., plants of the new Nephrolepis Fern differ from the parent selection primarily in pinnae coloration as plants of the parent selection have solid green-colored pinnae.